Expressive writing helps cancer patients

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Expressive writing -- writing about one's deepest thoughts and feelings -- may help improve the quality of life of cancer patients, a U.S. study found.

Study leader Nancy P. Morgan of the Georgetown University Medical Center said cancer patients participating in writing therapy who reported changes in thoughts about their illness also reported a better physical quality of life three weeks later.

"Previous research suggests expressive writing may enhance physical and psychological well-being," the director of the medical center's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center's Arts and Humanities Program said in a statement.

"Most involved three to five writing sessions that were conducted in a controlled laboratory setting. Here, we found that just one writing session in a busy cancer clinic where the patients are frequently interrupted can still have a positive impact on patients."

The study of 71 adult leukemia or lymphoma patients included a pre-writing survey, 20 minutes of expressive writing, a post-writing survey and an optional follow-up survey completed by telephone three weeks later.

The study, published in The Oncologist, found 49 percent of participants reported that writing changed their thoughts about their illness.